Al lian ce Net works: the Case of Mul ti na tio nal Cor po ra tions

DOI: 10.2478/v10051-010-0016-z Al lian ce Net works: the Case of Mul ti na tio nal Cor po ra tions Włod zi mierz Sro ka De part ment of Ma na ge ment, Aca demy of Bu si ness ul. Cie pla ka 1c, 41-300 Dąbro wa Górnic za, Po land, wsroka@wsb.edu.pl The ar tic le deals with the prob lems of coo pe ra tion in net work or ga ni za tions. The struc tu re of the text is di vi ded into a couple of parts. Firstly, the in crea sing im por tan ce of al lian ce net works is des cri bed. Se condly, the con cept of al lian ce net works as well as the es sen ce of mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions are pre sen ted. Be si de theo re ti cal de li be ra tions, two prac ti cal ca ses are pre sen ted in the text too. First case re la tes to the To yo ta kei ret su and the se cond one des cri bes the net work or ga ni za tion of the lar gest steel ma nu fac tu rer in the world, i.e. Ar ce lor Mit tal Group. Last part of the text is the com pa ra ti ve analy sis of the mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions net work vs. net works of small and me dium size com pa nies. The si mi la ri ties as well as dif fe ren ces bet ween both forms were pre sen ted. The ar tic le is ba sed on the la test world li te ra tu re de vo ted to the coo pe ra ti ve stra te gies as well as the prac ti cal bu si ness ex pe rien ce of the aut hor from the work in Ar ce lor Mit tal Po land and po lish mac hi ne in du stry. Key words: coo pe ra tion, al lian ce net work, mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tion, kei ret su group, steel in du stry 1 In tro duc tion Net work ap proach, as a new form of coo pe ra tion among bu siness en ti ties was es tab lis hed in the late 70s. It was mainly the re sult of tech no lo gi cal chan ges on the mar ket, and gro wing in ter na tio nal com pe ti tion (Ra tajc zak-mro zek, 2009). No wadays inter-or ga ni za tio nal coo pe ra tion in the form of al lian ces and net works is wi dely used by many com pa nies. In many in du strial sec tors such as te le com mu ni ca tion we can ob ser ve hie rarc hi cal ga la xies with the group of lea ding cor po ra tions that are sur roun ded by the sa tel li te-type com pa nies. This phe no me non has been gai ning its mo men tum for the last two de ca des. In the pe riod of 1980-90 the cor po ra tions like IBM, AT&T, Olivet ti and Tos hi ba for med over 100 coo pe ra tion agree ments each. The re are cor po ra tions such as To yo ta that re cei ve over 1000 al lian ce pro po sals monthly (Obłój, 2007: 16). Ap ple re cently an noun ced re cord cor po ra te pro fits but it did not act alo ne. Ap ple s port fo lio of ties with EMI, Google, Sa les for ce.com, Mi cro soft, and ot her firms was key to its suc cess. The se ties enab led Ap ple to fo cus on its strengths, such as arc hi tec tu ral de sign, whi le le ve ra ging their part ners re sour ces and mar ket po si tions. (Oz can & Ei sen hardt, 2009). In ten years, Sun Mi crosy stems that was es tab lis hed in 1982 grew to $ 3,2 bil lion in sa les and $ 284 mil lion in pro fits. This re mar kab le growth was ac hie ved by the Sun s al lian ce net work (Lo ren zo ni & Ba den-ful ler, 1995). The sto ries are not uni que, be cau se many firms rely on their port fo lios of ties to en han ce per for man ce. The ae ros pa ce in du stry is control led by two net works, tho se of Bo eing and Air bus. Each con sists of more than 100 part ners (Freid heim, 1999). Most of the ma jor air li nes lead net works of smal ler, and re gio nal carriers in code-sha ring al lian ces. The phar ma ceu ti cal in du stry is sup por ted by net works of bio tech no logy firms and sup pliers, cross-li cen ses, and di stri bu tion agree ments (Child et al., 2005: 145). It con firms the thesis that a sca le and sco pe of al liance exi sten ce have a glo bal na tu re, and it es pe cially re la tes to the mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions. Ta king into con si de ra tion this gro wing im por tan ce of in ter-firm coo pe ra tion, the goal of the ar tic le is pre sen ta tion of two net work or ga ni za tions be lon ging to the mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions. Tho se cor po ra tions ope ra te in neigh bo ring parts of the va lue chain, and are lea ders in their sec tors. The ar tic le is ba sed on the la test li te ra tu re as well as the prac ti cal bu si ness ex perien ce of the aut hor from the work in Ar ce lor Mit tal Po land. 2 Met ho do logy As a re search in stru ment, two ba sic met hods were used: cri ti cal analy sis of the li te ra tu re devoted to the in ter-firm coo pe ra tion, and re sults of pi lo ta ge re search con duc ted in the steel in du stry in Po land. The aim of re search was to iden tify the sco pe and ex tent of net work re la tions in steel in du stry and they co ve red three main areas: 1. net works for ma tion, 165

2. net works ma na ge ment, and 3. growth and de ve lop ment of net works. The re search took pla ce from April to May 2008. Opi nion sur veys were sent to 50 ma na gers, at least midd le-size le vel, re pre sen ting 33 com pa nies. Most of them was con trol led by the Ar ce lor Mit tal as the con cern con trols ap prox. 70 % of the steel in du stry in Po land. Due to the spe ci fic si tua tion of Po lish steel plants, whe re most of trans for ma tions ac ti vi ties took place, the re search, ex cept steel plants, co ve red also com pa nies re la ted to the steel bu si ness, con nec ted with the steel plants and each ot her by means of dif ferent re la tions. Sug ge stions of ans wers were gi ven in each of the said areas, as king respon dents to take an at ti tu de to wards sug ge sted sta te ments, by ans we ring yes or no, or by in di ca ting the pro per ans wer by gi ving points from 1 to 5 (whe re 1 litt le importan ce, 5 great im por tan ce), or by gi ving their own ans wer. 32 ans wers were sent, which amoun ted to 64% of all exa mi ned (Sro ka, 2010 a). 3 The con cept of al lian ce net work: idea, evo lu tion and ad van ta ges The re are many de fi ni tions des cri bing the net work or ga niza tions as well as clas si fi ca tions of this or ga ni za tio nal form (Sro ka 2008, c). Eco no mic so cio lo gists de fi ne a net work as a form of or ga ni zed eco no mic ac ti vity that in vol ves a set of no des, e.g. or ga ni za tions or in di vi duals lin ked by a set of re lationships (Gu la ti, 2007: 2). Acc. to Ja ril lo (1988), a net work or ga ni za tion is an inten sio nal, long-term agree ment bet ween dif fe rent or ga ni za tions ai med at pro fits, which al low them to reach (keep) ad van ta ge vis-à-vis their com pe ti tors outside the net work. The com pa nies in the net work are in de pen dent, and mu tual re la tions bet ween them are fun da men tal to their com pe ti ti ve po si tion. In this con cept Ja ril lo con si ders the hub firm as an es sen tial fac tor: this com pany sets up the net work and ta kes a pro-ac ti ve role in ma king sure that the net work func tions well. Net work mem bers can be lin ked by many types of con nec tions and flows, such as in for ma tion, ma te rials, fi nan cial re sour ces, tech no lo gi cal sup port etc. Con nec tions may be in for mal, and to tally trust-ba sed or more for ma li zed, as through a con tract (Pro van et al., 2007). Anot her de fi ni tion of al lian ce net work des cri bes it as the group of com pa nies lin ked by ties that vary in for ma lity, but are stab le and sig ni fi cant enough to crea te rea so nably per sistent in ter-firm struc tu res (Row ley et al., 2004). Go mes-cas seres (2004: 43-52) treats al lian ce net work as a set of firms that coo pe ra te with each ot her in a mul ti la te ral re la tions hips and also com pe tes in a par ti cu lar com pe ti ti ve do main. The firm re la tions hips are loo ser than if they were mer ged through some kind of ow ners hip struc tu re, but tigh ter than if the firm s would have only short-term tran sac tions among each ot her. Net work or ga ni za tion can be then de fi ned as a re la ti vely du rab le link of in de pen dent and spe cia lized units or en ter pri ses ai med at the ac hie ve ment of a com mon tar get (Br ze ziński, 2002). The es sen ce of the net work is that in de pen dent en ti ties, with support of in for ma tion tech no logy crea te vo lun tary and loo se con fi gu ra tions (Pie trusz ka-ortyl, 2004). Stra te gic net works evol ve over time and spa ce. But ler and Han sen (1991) pre sented a mo del of en tre pre neu rial net work evo lu tion, in which a firm goes through three pha ses. In the first, pre start-up pha se, a firm is in the pro cess of op por tunity iden ti fi ca tion. The do mi nant role is pla yed by the so cial net work. The se cond pha se which is trea ted as the bu si ness start-up, the pro cess of bu si ness for ma tion ta kes pla ce. Links to in di vi duals and or ga ni sa tions that di rectly ser ve the more im me dia te start-up needs (sup pliers, cu sto mers, capi tal pro viders) are pro mi nent. The third pha se is the on going bu si ness pha se, i.e. the pe riod whe re the firm ex pands its links to ot her or ga ni za tions and be co mes a part of stra te gic net work. En ga ge ment in net works has se ve ral ad van ta ges (Gre ve et al., 2010; Child et al., 2005: 147-148; Sro ka & Ku bic ka, 2009). Net work struc tu res pro vi de a sour ce of op por tu ni ties that help net work mem bers ar ri ve at fa vo rab le out co mes. These op por tu ni ties are re la ted not only to the net work s struc tu ral fea tu res but also to its con tent and no dal pro per ties. Past networks offer ac tors a com bi na tion of ex pe rien ces, know led ge ac cess, pro mi nen ce, and po wer that can open op por tu ni ties and crea te in du ce ments, which in turn can inf luen ce the evolu tio nary pat tern of net work struc tu res (Za heer & Soda, 2010). Strong in ter na tio nal com petition and ra pid tech no lo gi cal de velop ment urge firms to pro du ce new pro ducts, de ve lop new proces ses and ac cess new mar kets. Par ti ci pa tion in the net work enab les a firm to con cen tra te on core ca pa bi li ties, and pro vi des ac cess to the re sour ces such as spe cific know-how, tech no logy, pro ducts, as sets, mar kets in ot her firms. Ad di tio nal ad van ta ge a firm can gain from being a mem ber of an in te ror ga ni za tional net work is be co ming part of a spe cia li zed group. This ad van ta ge is es pe cially im por tant in the con struc tion in du stry whe re the re can be many spe cia lists ran ging from arc hi tects, plum bers, car pen ters, sa les peo ple, and en vi ron men tal specia lists that coo pe ra te in or der to of fer so lu tions to com plex prob lems. Firms can also sha re costs of com mu ni ca tion, and mar keting to their bu yers. The se pro mo tion ac ti vi ties can be very ex pen si ve. Joint mar ke ting is one way to per form the se ac ti vi ties more ef fi ciently. For exam ple, sha red web si tes make com mu ni ca tion and pro mo tion with bu yers more ef fi cient and ef fec ti ve. Firms gain ac cess to a sha red logo, brand na mes and ot her part ne ring ba sed le gi ti ma cies from the interor ga ni za tional net work (Haah ti & Ya vas, 2004). Coo pe ra ti ve stra te gies, usually in the form of net works, are more be ne fi cial than ot her forms of ex ter nal growth due to the exi sten ce of many re gu la tion mec ha nisms in de ve lo ped coun tries. The se mec ha nisms prec lu de too high le vel of concen tra tion (mo no po li za tion) of the eco no mies. It is es pe cially ob ser ved in the EU coun tries, and Uni ted Sta tes. Glo bal networks, trea ted as re la tions en ter pri ses are more fa vo rab le in such cir cum stan ces. They ope ra te as sin gle com pa nies and enab le for bu si ness con so li da tion. Te le com mu ni ca tion sec tor is con si de red as one of the most net wor ked branch. For exam ple, Phi lips be gan its ac tivity as an in de pen dent firm, and in the next years its growth was ba sed on al lian ces. It al lo wed him to built up a wide port fo lio of coo pe ra ti ve agree ments. Such a growth mo del is a na tu ral evo lu tion of the firm. They sta te that com pa nies com pe te first as inde pen dent en ti ties, then crea te dya dic al lian ces, and the next sta ge is the for ma tion of al lian ce net works (Sro ka, 2010 b). 166

4 Mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions As the do mi nant for ce sha ping the world eco nomy at the be gin ning of 21 st cen tury, glo ba li za tion also sha pes the structu re of a bu si ness en ter pri se. The key que stion is: how can a com pany ac hie ve a glo bal lea ders hip po si tion? The ans wer is very sim ple and short: be glo bal, set world stan dards and be lo cal. A com pany must de ve lop cer tain ca pa bi li ties in each of the se areas (Freid heim, 1999). Ge ne rally, a glo bal com pany is con si de red as the en tity that pos sess glo bal brands of products and sells them glo bally, as well as ope ra tes in a va riety of coun tries (Whit wam, 1985). Anot her de fi ni tion treats the glo bal company as an en tity that ope ra tes glo bally, is glo bally ma na ged and im ple men ted a glo bal stra tegy. The com mon fea tu re of dif fe rent de fi ni tions of the glo bal stra tegy are two ele ments: ac ti vity on a glo bal mar ket and glo bal ma na ge ment system. The re fo re the compa nies have to look for the new sour ces of com pe ti ti ve ad van ta ge (Mor den, 1991). Pos ses sion of a glo bal stra tegy is the ne ces sary con di tion of de ve lop ment and growth of a com pany, es pe cially in a tur bu lent en vi ronment (Yip, 1996: 22). In the fra me of glo bal stra tegy the re are at least two se pa ra te ap proac hes to its im ple men ting and adap ta tion: n se pa ra te stra tegy on many mar kets, n glo bal ap proach (Por ter, 1996). The prac ti cal exam ple of glo bal stra tegy is the case of Ja pa ne se au to mo ti ve com pa nies. Their glo bal stra tegy is ba sed on a cou ple of ele ments: n buil ding up the au to mo ti ve fac to ries abroad, mainly in the USA, UE and in emer ging mar kets. n for ming stra te gic al lian ces with com pa nies from dif fe rent coun tries, e.g. Maz da and Ford. n searc hing the chea per sup pliers of parts and com po nents n es pe cially in Asia. per ma nent ra tio na li za tion of pro duc tion pro ces ses (Ko bayas hi, 1988). Ja pa ne se firms fo cused on in crea sing pro fi ta bi lity by rea ping the cost re duc tions that come from ex pe rien ce curve ef fects and lo ca tion eco nomies. The R&D ac ti vi ties, produc tion and mar ke ting were con cen tra ted in a few fa vo rab le lo ca tions. Some com pa nies used their strong cost ad van ta ge to su port ag gres si ve pri cing in the mar kets. It fi nally al lo wed them to ac hie ve lea ding po si tions on the most im por tant markets. 5 Net works of se lec ted mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions 5.1 To yo ta kei ret su group To yo ta was foun ded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937 as a spinoff from his father s com pany Toyota Industries to crea te automobiles. At the very be gin ning it was dea ling with the ma nu fac tu ring of tex ti le mac hi nes (Ste wart & Ra man, 2008). The ac ti vity of To yo ta is deep-roo ted in the tra di tion. A speci fic fea tu re of eco nomy in Ja pan is oc cur ren ce of kei ret su groups that are some type of net work or ga ni za tions. They exist in all sec tors of Ja pa ne se eco nomy. Kei ret su groups are trea ted as one of the sour ce of Ja pa ne se eco no mic mi rac le af ter the World War II (Den nis, 2000), and the lo gic of their exi sten ce stem from the func tio ning of the Ja pa ne se fa mily (Bhap pu, 2000). In kei ret su the re is a lea ding com pany in the cen ter that is sur roun ded by the sa tel li te-type com pa nies which play the role of sub-sup pliers. Per so nal re la tions hips bet ween em ployees are the base for its func tio ning. They have to coo pe ra te in all pha ses of pro duc tion pro cess so that it was pos sib le to crea te new, good qua lity and re la ti vely cheap pro ducts (Dyer, 1996 b). Tho se re la tions hips are en han ced by fi nan cial ties that are equally im por tant. One of the most im por tant fea tu res of kei ret su is the ap proach to sol ving prob lems. Lar ge com panies which play the key po si tions in the net work usually as sist their mem bers to sol ve ope ra tio nal prob lems (Ha gen & Choe, 1998). It fa vors the coo pe ra tion among part ners, de ve lops trust and di mi nis hes the area of po ten tial conf licts. Ja pa ne se kei ret su ope ra te in ac cor dan ce with cer tain stan dards. The strong fi nan cial or ga ni za tion or a bank as the stra te gic in ve stor of kei ret su group is the first rule. The main task of the bank is gran ting cre dits and emis sion of debt in stru ments. Every bank has a great con trol over the com panies in the kei ret su and acts as a mo ni to ring en tity and as an emer gency bail-out en tity. Ad di tio nal ef fect of this struc tu re is to mi ni mi ze the pre sen ce of ho sti le ta keo vers, be cau se no en ti ties can chal len ge the po wer of the banks. Se condly, the in ter nal fi nan cial flows among the kei ret su mem bers should be ne ga ti vely cor re la ted. If the ex port sa les col lap ses, the main banks pro vi de with chea per pro duc tion means for the ne cessary ad just ments and the sa tel li te-type com pa nies being the re gu lar sub-sup pliers ra di cally re du ce costs (Ro ma now ska et al., 2000, 99-106). It is also worth ad ding that the re are ca pi tal links bet ween par ti cu lar kei ret su groups. To yo ta kei ret su is si mi lar to the ot her groups exi sted in Ja pan. It is ba sed on two ru les: n dual la bor mar ket is not vio la ted by in te gra ting sup pliers n into To yo ta, sup plier ca pa bi li ties are im pro ved through the trans fer of com pe ten ces to them (Ko gut 2000). Over time, To yo ta sub con trac tors were reor ga ni zed into tiers through con cen tra tion of or ders, in ten si fied spe cia li zation and in crea sed de pen den ce on par ti cu lar cu sto mers (Fruin & Nis hi guc hi, 1993: 225-246). In the tie red struc tu re, ap proxi ma tely 180 first-tier sup pliers con tract to se ve ral thou sand lo wer-tier sub con trac tors that, in turn, con tract to tens of thou sands third-tier sup pliers (Ko gut, 2000). First-tier suppliers have the hig hest port fo lio of or ders. Such a struc tu re has se ve ral ad van ta ges, e.g. al lows for dif fe ren tia ting of re sour ces pos ses sed by par ti cu lar sub-sup pliers. To par ti ci pa te in the first tier, sup pliers are re qui red to pro ve, co dify and sha re their com pe ten ce with each ot her. The in crea sed re lian ce by To yo ta on first-tier sup pliers ge ne ra ted im por tant or ga ni za tio nal in no va tions. Through re pea ted in te rac tions bet ween firms in the net work, a se ries of in no va tions emer ged that sup por ted the ac qui si tion of skills spe ci fic to the re la tions hips. The se in no va tions inc lu ded joint pri ce deter mi na tion ba sed on ob jec ti ve va lue analy sis, joint de sign, pro fit sha ring ru les, sub con trac tor gra ding, qua lity 167

as su ran ce through self-cer ti fied sub con trac tors and just in time de li ve ries ba sed on bo nus-pe nalty pro grams. Through mo ni to ring and sup plier qua li fi ca tion re qui re ments, To yota se lec ti vely de ve lops re la tions hips with its sup pliers. They are eva lua ted ac cor ding to how well they have per for med on ear lier con tracts. All types of sup pliers have to de ve lop some skills and com pe ten ces, ot her than purely tech no lo gi cal ca pabi li ties, if they want to main tain the re la tion to the core firm. Of ten, par tial ow ners hip is sought in the sup pliers that rank the hig hest in terms of per for man ce and po ten tial ca pa bi li ties (Kogut, 2000). This dyna mic, per ma nent pro cess al lows for costs re duc tion in To yo ta and per for man ce im pro ve ment of the suppliers. Coo pe ra tion in the net work and trans fer of know led ge among par ti cu lar mem bers is lin ked with ef fec ti ve ness im prove ment of the sup pliers (Ko ta be et al., 2003). To yo ta also gives its part ners a pos si bi lity of trai nings and as si stan ce in terms of ex pert know led ge on com po nents ma nu fac tu red (Lo ren zoni & Ba den-ful ler, 1995). Know led ge dif fu sion oc curs more quickly wit hin To yo ta s pro duc tion net work than in com pe ting au to ma ker networks. Sup pliers do learn more quickly af ter par ti ci pa ting in To yo ta s know led ge-sha ring net work. To yo ta s net work has sol ved three fun da men tal di lem mas with re gard to know led ge sha ring by de vi sing met hods to: 1. mo ti va te mem bers to par ti ci pa te and openly share va luab le know ledge (whi le pre ven ting un de si rab le spil lo vers to com pe ti tors), 2. pre vent free ri ders, and 3. re du ce the costs as so cia ted with fin ding and ac ces sing dif fe rent types of va luab le know led ge (Dyer & No beo ka, 2000). Mo reo ver, the kei ret su com pa nies that can not iden tify the sour ce of their prob lems can al ways count on the as si stan ce of spe cia lists from the group (Li ker & Choi, 2006). Si mul ta ne ously To yo ta offers chea per and bet ter qua lity ve hic les than its ri vals (Ko ba yas hi, 1988) and has the highest pro fi ta bi lity (Dyer, 1996 a). Ge ne rally To yo ta has a core com pe ten ce in the ma nu fac tu ring of cars, es pe cially in the pro duc tion tech no logy and work or ga ni za tion. It is able to ma nu fac tu re high qua lity, well-de sig ned cars at a lo wer de li vered cost. The skills that enab le To yo ta to do so re si de pri ma rily in its pro duc tion, ma te rial and hu man re sour ce ma na ge ment. At the same time the re sults of To yo ta are sub stan tially bet ter than its com pe ti tors, e.g. in 2007 it ge ne ra ted net pro fit of $ 13,7 bil lion whi le Ge ne ral Mo tors and Ford had the loss of $ 1,97 and 12,61 bil lion res pec ti vely (Ste wart & Ra man, 2008). Des pi te the fact that the group made a loss of $ 4,3 bil lion in 2008, one should re mem ber that its main rea son was the break down of Ame ri can mar ket which is con si de red as the se cond main area of com pany s func tio ning. Ame ri can Chry sler tried to take ad van ta ge of ex pe rien ce of To yo ta in the 90s. The con cern ra di cally re du ced pro duc tion costs through a fun da men tal re con struc tion of its sup pliers base. The num ber of sub-sup pliers were re du ced and they were of fe red more or ders. Ef fec ti ve ness was sub stan tially im pro ved by just in time dis patc hes (e.g. re duc tion of in ven tories) and re duc tion of de fects (Dyer, 1996 a). 5.2 The case of Ar ce lor Mit tal Group Arcelor Mit tal Group is the big gest steel pro du cer in the world. It was set up in 2006 as a re sult of mer ger bet ween Ar ce lor and Mit tal Steel. Their mer ger crea ted the world wi de lea der in the steel in du stry, in crea sing its bar gai ning po wer with sup pliers and con su mers. Ex ter nal growth is trea ted as the main stra tegic di rec tion of the group which is trea ted as the only, truly glo bal steel com pany. This is be cau se Ar ce lor Mit tal: n has its own steel plants on all - ex cept Au stra lia - con tinents, n is pre sent in 60 coun tries world wi de and em ploy 320 thou sand of em plo yees, n is strongly in te gra ted steel pro du cer with coal mi nes and iron ore fac to ries, n n has its R+D cen ters lo ca ted in Fran ce and USA, ma kes cen tra li zed purc ha ses of raw ma te rials. The said mer ger was very im por tant due to a cou ple of rea sons. Firstly, due to the sca le and sco pe. In the 90s the re were re vo lu tio nal chan ges in the Eu ro pean steel in du stry and the mer ger bet ween Krupp and Hoesch star ted the last sta ge of in te gra tion of the branch. Be si de spec ta cu lar tran sac tions such as ac qui sti tion of Coc ke ril Sam bre by Usi nor and mer ger bet ween Hoo go vens and Bri tish Steel, the re were over 120 smal ler sca le con so li da tion tran sac tions, and in 1997 over thirty (Sro ka, 2008 b). Ho we ver none of the se tran sac tions had neit her the com pa rab le sca le nor sco pe. Se condly, both com pa nies had com pa rab le po ten tial so it was the mer ger of equals. Thirdly, both Ar ce lor and Mit tal were re la ti vely young com pa nies. They were also com ple men tary to each ot her, as Ar ce lor had steel plants lo ca ted mainly in Eu ro pe whi le Mit tal mostly in ot her de sti na tions on all con ti nents ex cept Au stra lia. The mer ger has chan ged the steel in du stry in the world. But still, this sec tor is not as strongly con so li da ted as au to mo ti ve in du stry that is one of the main steel con su mers. This means that the re is still some po ten tial for con so li da tion pro ces ses in the steel branch. The group is the lea der on all the mar kets ser ved, i.e. au to mo ti ve in du stry, pri mary trans for ma tion, con struc tion, hou se hold ap plian ces, me tal pro ces sing, ge ne ral in du stry, pac ka ges etc. The re ve nues of Ar ce lor Mit tal reac hed $ 105 bil lion in 2007 and mar ket sha re in crea sed to al most 10 % (De Smedt & Van Hoey, 2008). One year la ter the re ve nues reached $ 124,9 bil lion and to tal pro duc tion rose to 103 mil lion tons of steel. What is more im por tant, Ar ce lor Mit tal plans to reach 200 mil lion tons of out put in five to ten years through mer gers and ac qui si tions in de ve lo ping coun tries inc lu ding the BRIC s (Bra sil, Rus sia, In dia and Chi na), Tur key, Ea stern Eu ro pe coun tries and ot her coun tries in Asia (Kyeong-Chan, 2009). The group also oc cu pies a lea ding po si tion in the world in the field of re search and de ve lop ment (Wiec hoc zek, 2009). Ar ce lor Mit tal en te red po lish mar ket in 2004 by purc ha se of the big gest steel pro du cer, i.e. PHS which had to tal tur nover of over $ 3 bil lion per year. Thus Ar ce lor Mit tal be ca me the ow ner of four steel plants: Ka to wi ce, Send zi mi ra, Ced le ra and Flo rian. Mit tal Group also purc ha sed sha res (so me ti mes ma jo rity) in a few do zen of en ti ties ope ra ting in dif fe rent sectors of eco nomy: mac hi nes, trans por ta tion, coke, main te nan ce, elec tri cal and po wer in du stry and many ot hers, at the same time be co ming the group that con trol led over 70 % of produc tion poten tial of steel in dustry. Star ting the most mo dern steel hot-rolling mill in Eu rope al lowed for win ning cus to mers (es pe cially tho se wor king in the Eu ro pean markcts) from sec- 168

tors that are most dyna mi cally de ve lo ping, i.e. au to mo tive and hou se hold goods sec tors. The is sue of the net work or ga ni za tions is the sub ject of many analy ses. Ge ne rally it is pos sib le to iden tify dif fe rent types of net works, ho we ver, from the prac ti cal point of view, we usually di vi de them into do mi na ted net works, whe re a do mi na ting or lea ding com pany is surroun ded by sa tel li tetype en ti ties, and equal-part ners net works that are con nec ted via al lian ces in their dif fe rent or ga ni za tio nal and le gal forms. As far as the steel in du stry is con cer ned, it is ne ces sary to sta te that a clas sic ope ra tion in the pro cess of re struc tu ring of Po lish steel plants was to split out the pro ces ses that were not the core bu si ness, i.e., the ba sic ac ti vity. This con cer ned the fol lo wing areas: pro perty pro tec tion, main te nan ce, me di cal ser vi ces, trans por ta tion, and ot hers. Al most all steel plants were con cer ned and the dif fe ren tial fac tor was the le vel of out sour cing ac ti vity and the sco pe of ac ti vi ties se pa ra ted from par ti cu lar steel plants (Sro ka, 2008 a). At the very be gin ning the steel plants usually were the 100 % ow ners of the spun-off sub si dia ries. Af ter wards the ex ter nal en ti ties, both do me stic and fo reign, have purc ha sed the sha res (so me ti mes ma jority) in tho se sub si dia ries, thus be co ming their sha re hol ders. Well-es tab lis hed and re nown cor po ra tions par ti ci pa ted in such tran sactions, e.g. ABB and Air Li qui de be ca me the stra te gic in ve stors of two firms, that have been for merly se pa ra ted from Huta Ka to wi ce. Such net work con nec tions still exist in most of the steel plants at pre sent, and they are also ob ser ved in Ar celor Mit tal Po land. Usually they take the form of do mi na ted net works whe re me tal lur gi cal com pa nies are in the midd le (a part of glo bal con cerns at the mo ment), which are sur roun ded by a chain of com pa nies re la ted to the steel bu si ness, ope rating in dif fe rent sec tors. They are all connec ted by means of ca pi tal bonds, alt hough some res pon dents in the sur veys had in di ca ted also the com mer cial bonds, with no ca pi tal en ga gement of the par ties. A cha rac te ri stic fea tu re of the Ar ce lor Mit tal Group are the net work con nec tions bet ween its par ti cu lar firms. This is be cau se the steel in du stry in the world is or ga ni zed in a si mi lar way. Addi tio nally Ar ce lor Mit tal inc lu des a num ber of firms si tua ted in the coun tries of for mer So wiet Union bloc (Poland, Romania, Czech Rep., Ukraine, Kazakhstan), so the or ga ni zing of pro duc tion ac ti vi ties is very si mi lar in every steel plant. This also ap plies to Ar ce lor Mit tal s ope ra tions in Po land. The con cern inc lu des more than fifty com pa nies in Po land. If pos sib le, the coo pe ra tion exists wit hin the group, e.g. sup plies of fur na ce char ge from Huta Ka to wi ce to Huta Send zi mi ra for ma nu fac tu ring of hol-rol led sheet me tals (Slusarczyk, 2009), i.e. bet ween two steel plants. Be si de such a coo pe ra tion, we can ob ser ve bu si ness re la tions among steel plants, and steel-re la ted firms, and bet ween steel-re la ted compa nies them sel ves. The re fo re the coo pe ti tion phe no me non can be ob ser ved in the group. The re la tions bet ween de pen ding or ga ni za tio nal units have a ho ri zon tal na tu re, and to wards the HQ hie rarc hic. In tra-organi za tio nal coo pe ti tion re la tions inclu de both branch le vel, and cor po ra tion di vi sion. Tho se units coo pe ra te with each otther, and face in ter nal conf licts (Cygler, 2009: 31-32). Pri va ti za tion of po lish steel plants and get ting the strate gic in ve stors chan ged the si tua tion of net works si mul ta neously. New in ve stors im ple men ted dif fe rent stra te gies to their com pa nies lin ked by net works. Some de ci ded to in cor po ra te spun-off com pa nies (or part of them) to the plants. The spe cifi city of func tio ning the en ti ties in Po land is dif fe rent than in their fo reign coun ter parts, e.g. Po lish steel en ti ties, to a grea ter de gree than steel plants in ot her coun tries, were sur roun ded by the sa tel li te-type en ti ties, of ten of weak fi nan cial con dition, from dif fe rent branc hes, even from so re mo te sec tors as me di cal, just to men tion one. This re sul ted mainly from the re si duals af ter the cen tral-plan ned eco nomy. In the We stern en ti ties it has hap pe ned in a dif fe rent way. Ar ce lor Mit tal Po land cho se anot her op tion and did not chan ge the struc tu re of the group. At the same time it mer ged the firms with the same or si mi lar ope ra tions. 6 Mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions net works vs. small en ti ties net works: com pa ri son Al lian ce net works are not a do main of mul ti na tio nal cor pora tions only. More and more fre quently this ap plies to small and me dium size com pa nies too. For exam ple, it is a nor mal coo pe ra tion for mu la in case of po lish trans por ta tion firms. The MTS Roch is an exam ple of such a com pany. It is a small en tity with its lo ca tion in Kleszc zo wa (south of Po land). It has been ope ra ting on the mar ket for al most 20 years and to the group of com pany s clients be long lea ding steel en ter pri ses, e.g. Ar ce lor Mit tal Po land, CMC, and com pa nies from ot her sec tors. The main di rec tions of its ope ra tions inc lu de transports to West Eu ro pean coun tries, such as Ger many, Bel gium, the Net her lands and Fran ce. The com pany coo pe ra tes with the group of over 10 trans por ta tion firms, crea ting thus un for mal net work of con nec tions ba sed on mu tual trust (Sro ka & Ku bicka, 2009). The same is ob ser ved in Fin land, whe re a lot of big global com pa nies se pa ra ted some func tions from their struc tu res and ve sted them with a se pa ra te le gal en tity, and coo pe ra tes with them on the net work ba sis. A mot her com pany is in the cen tral po si tion and is sur roun ded by a net work of small and me dium com pa nies ren de ring their ser vi ces for both the mother com pany and ot her ex ter nal en ti ties. A clas sic exam ple of such al lian ce net work is the pro ject cal led PARTNET that is func tio ning in the Fin nish me tal lur gi cal in du stry. The pro ject was ini tia ted in 2002 and inc lu des 7 com pa nies lo ca ted in the south of Fin land (Sro ka, 2008 b). It is also worth ad ding that the aut hor s sur vey (Sro ka, 2008 a) also sta ted that when rea li zing big pro jects, sa tel lite-type com pa nies crea te mi cro net works inc lu ding a cou ple of part ners and play the cen tral po si tions in them. Tab le 1 pre sents a com pa ra ti ve analy sis of mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions net works and small en ti ties net works. 169

Tab le 1. Net works of mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions vs. small firms net works: com pa ra ti ve analy sis Cri te ria Mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions net works Small en ti ties net works Par ti ci pants From va ri ous parts of va lue chain Usually from the same or re la ted sectors Num ber of mem bers in the net work So me ti mes hun dreds of mem bers Usually se ve ral mem bers Ma na ge ment com ple xity Very com plex and ex pen si ve Small Uti li za tion of IT systems (elec tro nic data ba ses, In ter net, In tra net etc.) The ne ces sary con di tion for net work or gani za tion to be ef fec ti ve Re la tively li mi ted Coor di na tion Exe cu ted by a lea ding com pany Exe cu ted by a lea der of the pro ject Re con fi gu ra tion pos si bi lity Pos sib le but re la ti vely rare used Pos sib le and wi dely used Im pact on the sec tor Very big Mi ni mal Geo grap hi cal dis per sity Very po pu lar, and wi dely used Very li mi ted Role of trust One of the key suc cess fac tors One of the key suc cess fac tors Fle xi bi lity Li mi ted due to the size of the net work Very big, fa ci li ta ted by a lack of for mal ru les and pro ce du res Or ga ni za tio nal struc tu re Dif fe rent so lu tions, de pen ding on the network type, i.e. do mi na ted, or equal-partner Loo se Analy sis of the tab le al lows to say that the re are si mi lari ties and dif fe ren ces bet ween both ca ses. They usually re sult from the net work size. 7 Conc lu sions Inter-or ga ni za tio nal coo pe ra tion is re gar ded as a cri ti cal as pect of com pe ti tion in va riety of in du stries. Some com pa nies have a port fo lio of bi la te ral al lian ces, so me ti mes as in case of Corning or Ge ne ral Elec tric inc lu ding se ve ral hun dreds of partners. Other firms par ti ci pa te in com pli ca ted web of mu tually de pen dent re la tions. The re are cor po ra tions sur roun ded by sa tel li te-type com pa nies, thus ha ving do mi na ted net works and equal part ners net works. The se com plex net works can be lar ge and stab le such as Japanese kei ret su or more fluid like mu tually lin ked groups of firms in bio tech no logy (Bierly & Gal lag her, 2007). On the ot her hand al lian ce net works are not a spe ci fic fea tu re of lar ge cor po ra tions only as they are also for med by small and me dium size com pa nies. Ir res pecti ve of the net work size, it ge ne rally con firms the the sis that in ter-or ga ni za tio nal coo pe ra tion is one of the key pos si bi li ties to ac hie ve a com pe ti ti ve ad van ta ge by any com pany, and es pecially the mul ti na tio nal cor po ra tions. This is be cau se multina tio nal cor po ra tions seek growth pos si bi li ties on emer ging mar kets, and the com pa nies from the se mar kets want to en ter the glo bal eco nomy. In such a case al lian ces and net works are a very usu ful tool. The re are also some li mits in fo reign in vest ments exis ten ce in some coun tries, the re fo re stra te gies of in ter-firm coo pe ra tion are so me ti mes the only pos si bi lity to en ter tho se mar kets. In ot her coun tries al lian ces and networks alow for fa ster en tran ce the mar ket and re du ce the risk of ac ti vity. The cases of To yota, and Ar ce lor Mit tal con firm that al lian ce net works can be a ef fec ti ve in stru ment of com pe ti tion in glo bal sca le. Acc.to spe cia lists, be cau se of wide coo pe ra tion in the net works, the said cor po ra tions ac hie ve the po si tion of lea ders in their sec tors. From the prac ti cal point of view both net works have the form of kei ret su (with big unit in the midd le, sur roun ded by smal ler, sa tel li te-like com pa nies), and the ma na ge ment of such net works is si mi lar to the in di vi dual com pa nies. This also fa cili ta tes running the uni form and co he rent stra tegy for the who le group. Mo reo ver, the cen tral com pany has gua ran teed sale of its pro ducts, and the sa tel li te-like com pa nies may count on sup port in dif fi cul ties. Thus, the com pany has the pos si bi lity to gain an ad van ta ge over com pe ti tors, which ot her com pa nies be yond the net work do not have (or at least to a cer tain de gree only). This stra tegy may also be use ful for small and me dium size com pa nies sin ce it al lows com pe ting ef fi ciently on dif ferent, and so me ti mes big ger, mar kets. The fin dings of the study 170

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Wiec hoc zek, J. (2009). Fo reign di rect in vest ment of Asian com pa nies in Central and Ea stern Eu ro pe as an ele ment of ex pan sion strategy on the Eu ro pean Union mar ket, Jour nal of Eco no mics & Ma na ge ment, 6, 188-215. Yip, G.S. (1996). Stra te gia glo bal na: świa to wa pr ze wa ga kon kurencyj na. Wars za wa: PWE. Za heer, A. & Soda, G. (2009) Net work Evo lu tion: The Ori gins of Struc tu ral Ho les, Ad mi ni stra ti ve Scien ce Quar terly, 54 (1), 1 31. Wlod zi mierz Sro ka has ob tai ned his Ph.D tit le from Ka rol Ada miec ki Uni ver sity of Eco no mics in Ka to wi ce, Po land. He holds his Ph.D., M.Sc. and B.Sc. de grees in Ma na ge ment and Mar ke ting at the Uni ver sity of Eco no mics in Ka to wi ce. Cur rently he is a tu tor in Aca demy of Bu si ness in Dąbro wa Górnic za, and si mul ta ne ously is a pre si dent of a me diumsize en gi nee ring com pany. He is the aut hor and co-aut hor of scien ti fic ar tic les pub lis hed in po lish and in ter na tio nal journals, and his re search ac ti vi ties inc lu des mainly coo pe ra ti ve stra te gies and mer gers and ac qui si tions. Za vez niška omrežja: pri mer mul ti na cio nal nih družb Čla nek obrav na va prob le ma ti ko so de lo va nja v mreženih or ga ni za ci jah. Be se dilo član ka je raz člen je no v dva dela.v prv em delu je pri ka zan vse večji poo men za vez niških omrežij. V dru gem delu je ana li zi ran kon cept za vez niških omrežij kot tudi samo bis tvo mul ti na cio nal nih družb. Po leg teo re tičnega pre mi sle ka sta pri ka za na tudi dva prak tična pri me ra. Prvi se na naša na To yo ta kei ret su in dru gi na Ar ce lor Mit tal Group. Za ključni del član ka je pri mer jal na ana li za omrežij mul ti na cio nal nih kor po ra cijj in omrežij ma lih in sred njih pod je tij. Pri ka za ne so po dob no sti kot tudi rez li ke med tema dve ma or ga ni za cij skima ob li ka ma. Čla nek te me lji na naj no vejši li te ra tu ri s področja kor po ra tiv ne stra te gi je in na prak tičnih po slov nih iz kušnjah av tor ja, ki iz ha ja jo iz njegovega dela pri Ar ce lor Mit tal Group Polj ska in v polj ski stroj ni in du stri ji. Ključne besede: kor po ra cija, za vez niška omrežja, mul ti na cio nal na kor po ra ci ja, kei ret su sku pi na, je klar ska in du stri ja 172